{"id":997144,"date":"2026-09-10T16:51:18","date_gmt":"2026-09-10T16:51:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/997144\/"},"modified":"2026-09-10T16:51:18","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T16:51:18","slug":"going-bigger-better-turns-manningcast-schedule-reveal-into-hollywood-star-studded-affair","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/997144\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Going bigger, better’ turns Manningcast schedule reveal into Hollywood star-studded affair"},"content":{"rendered":"

Peyton Manning<\/a> believes every interception has a story. So, too, apparently, does a robbery.<\/p>\n

When looking to amplify self-deprecation and his love for football, the Hall of Famer advanced to blowing up buildings, crawling through air ducts and chasing a helicopter in the reveal of the Manningcast<\/a> schedule that opens on Monday night with the Broncos<\/a> at Chiefs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Heist\u201d grew from a desire to change the broadcast dates since one conflicted with Peyton\u2019s book club reading of his old playbooks. He enlisted brother and co-host Eli to break into the NFL offices and change the master schedule on commissioner Roger Goodell\u2019s computer.<\/p>\n

Why not just pick up the phone? An annoyed Goodell had long ago started sending Peyton\u2019s calls to voicemail. So, the script with \u201c2 brothers, 40 cameos and 0 clue\u201d came to life.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeyton always has the perfectionist mentality. And the mandate is to go bigger and better,\u201d Omaha Productions head writer DJ Gallo told The Denver Post. \u201cThis year, there were like six pitches, and we settled on a mini-action movie. Both Peyton and Eli grew up watching a lot of movies. They are all about football. But they definitely know movies, so they liked the idea.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was on Gallo to pull it together. The first two schedule reveals worked well \u2014 auditions centering on finding a third Manningcast member and Manning the musical filmed at Kent Denver School\u2019s Anschutz Theater \u2014 but this represented a bigger undertaking. Rather than seven months, they had a 16-month lead-up.<\/p>\n

It provided time and multiple opportunities to add players and coaches at the NFL meetings and Pro Bowl. And it opened up a chance to bring in more Hollywood stars.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe very much lean on Peyton. Everyone has such respect for him,\u201d Gallo said. \u201cHe tells them the idea, how much time we need and they want to participate.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Mannings had shown they can turn their dry wit into comedic gold with athletes. This project found its sense of humor from Anne Hathaway as a foul-mouthed getaway driver of a van with the Mannings picture on the side, a bumbling Paul Rudd, too good-looking Jon Hamm and an irritable Larry David.<\/p>\n

David delivered perhaps the movie\u2019s best zinger, going full \u201cLife, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness.\u201d<\/a> He let Peyton and Eli know their plan stunk \u2014 \u201cYou forgot the night watchman, what a bunch of blithering idiots!\u201d \u2014 and called their commercial presence \u201cubiquitous.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eli thanked him.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat wasn\u2019t a compliment,\u201d Peyton corrected.<\/p>\n

The result is a smooth-moving adventure of follies. It includes father Archie aborting a helicopter rescue.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe went down to New Orleans for that one, and he is so great,\u201d Gallo said. \u201cWe give him the lines and he bangs them out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gallo enjoys working with current and former athletes because they are used to being coached. Spoiler alert: The Mannings, clumsy as they were, succeeded in getting the schedule tweaked to fit Peyton\u2019s needs.<\/p>\n

\u201cMonday Night Football with Peyton & Eli\u201d will appear on 11 regular-season games and, for the first time, the Super Bowl.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese reveals are positive and fun. That is the tone of the Manningcast with athletes, actors and musicians. People who love the NFL,\u201d Gallo said. \u201cWe hope these reveals give off that vibe in a different way of what we want the Manningcast to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Want more Broncos news? Sign up for the Broncos Insider to get all our NFL analysis.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Peyton Manning believes every interception has a story. So, too, apparently, does a robbery. When looking to amplify…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":997145,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2062],"tags":[232,231,258,2426,3724,7,110,929,926,6,8083,9],"class_list":["post-997144","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-denver-broncos","tag-broncos","tag-denver","tag-denver-broncos","tag-denverbroncos","tag-eli-manning","tag-football","tag-kansas-city-chiefs","tag-latest-headlines","tag-more-broncos-news","tag-nfl","tag-peyton-manning","tag-sports"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/117247782639227370","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/997144","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=997144"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/997144\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/997145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=997144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=997144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=997144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}